Community Services and Supports for
Adults with Mental Retardation
The Mississippi Department of Mental Health is responsible for the development of community services/supports for adults with mental retardation with state dollars and federal grant funds. The services and supports offered provide opportunities for adults to choose those supports which increase their independence, productivity, or integration/inclusion in their own community.
Community Services/supports options for adults with mental retardation that are available through DMH include:
Case Management Services are services which are performed, provided, or otherwise accessed in order to assist individuals with mental retardation/developmental disabilities in achieving maximum utilization of available community resources which enable him/her to be self sufficient and remain in the community in the most integrated setting. These include: follow along services which ensure a continuing relationship, lifelong, if necessary, between a provider and a person with mental retardation/developmental disabilities and the person's immediate relatives or guardians; coordination services that provide support, access to, and coordination of other services; information on programs and services; and monitoring of progress. An assessment of individual needs provides information on those services/supports being provided and the services/supports still needed by the individual to be able to participate fully in community life.
- Community Living for Adults
Community living services assist persons with mental retardation or developmental disabilities in maintaining or increasing their ability to be self sufficient. The specific housing arrangements within this component include group homes, apartments, supported living, and independent living. Areas of training within community living include: 1) self help/personal hygiene skills; 2) environmental maintenance and home living skills, i.e., use of generic service providers such as the health department and emergency assistance; 3) employment related skill development, i.e., acquisition and utilization of transportation to and from the job and time management; 4) appropriate socialization skills, i.e., developing and using appropriate conversational skills and meeting and maintaining acquaintances and friends; and 5) appropriate use of leisure or recreation time.
Community Living Services consist of the following options:
Group Homes -Community supervised living arrangements for adults with mental retardation/developmental disabilities include group homes that provide 24 hour support and training in home like settings. Individuals are offered opportunities to gain independence or interdependence in many areas of daily life, including self help skills, emergency management, management of appointments with other services and programs, use of medications, meals and nutrition, recreation and leisure activities, and participation in a range of individually desired activities and services in the community. There are coordinators who have special training to function in their particular roles on-site.
Apartments -This type of community living arrangement is for those adults with mental retardation/developmental disabilities that choose to live in an apartment setting without live in coordinators. Supervision and habilitative training are provided as needed by the individual. Community living coordinators live close by but not in the apartment of the individual with mental retardation/developmental disabilities.
Supported Living -These supported living arrangements in the community include any independent living situation an adult with mental retardation/developmental disabilities chooses to live in satisfactorily without the need for extensive supervision or training. A person living in this type of arrangement in the community may be enrolled in a case management program and receive assistance with accessing other needed services.
Retirement Living- Retirement living offers the older adult with mental retardation/developmental disabilities a living arrangement to which he or she can retire. The retirement living arrangements provide an excellent alternative to traditional community living arrangements. This is accomplished by designing a program that offers an individual the alternative of retirement and activities that continue to maintain and even improve their quality of life. Retirement Living arrangements are supervised 24-hours a day by staff who monitor the changing needs of the individuals.
The following two options are available: Sheltered Employment/Work Activity Services and Employment Services
Sheltered Employment/Work Activity Services - Work Activity Services for persons 16 years and older with mental retardation/developmental disabilities are designed to provide training that will enable these individuals to function more independently and become as self sufficient as possible while preventing institutional placement or reinstitutionalization. The services offered provide for the acquisition of necessary work skills and employment opportunities to allow the individual to remain in the community. The training provided in the work activity program is directed toward increasing productivity and enabling individuals to gain more independence and dignity within their own community.
The Work Activity Service Program provides work and functional skills training. Work must be real, remunerative, productive, and satisfying for transitional or extended work periods. Work must be planned and adequate to keep workers productively occupied. Functional Skills Training may include work related activities, application to or experiencing community resources (community awareness), and daily living skills needs. Service coordination continues to ensure that an individual's changing needs are met. Individuals are referred to Vocational Rehabilitation, Employment Services program, or directly into the private sector as they desire employment.
Employment Services - Employment Services include those services that will increase the independence, productivity, or integration of a person with mental retardation/ developmental disabilities in community work settings. Services provided include: employment preparation and vocational training leading to employment; services to assist transition from school to employment; services to assist transition from sheltered work settings to employment; job finding; job training; and continuing support.
Support Services consist of those therapeutic and case management services provided by community mental health service providers for individuals with mental retardation/ developmental disabilities who are eligible for Medicaid and are approved for services by a physician. The Medicaid services available for adults include Day Support and Elderly Psychosocial Rehabilitation.
Day Support - Day Support is a program for adults with mental retardation/developmental disabilities of structured activities designed to support and enhance the role functioning of individuals who are able to live fairly independently in the community through the regular provision of structured therapeutic support. Program activities aim to improve reality orientation, social adaptation, physical coordination, daily living skills, time and resource management, and task completion as well as to alleviate such psychiatric symptoms as confusion, anxiety, isolation, withdrawal and feelings of low self-worth.
Elderly Psychosocial Rehabilitation - This is a program of structured activities designed to support and enhance the ability of the older adult with mental retardation/ developmental disabilities to function at the highest possible level of independence in the most integrated setting appropriate to their needs. The activities target the specific needs and concerns of the elderly, while aiming to improve reality orientation, social adaptation, physical coordination, daily living skills, time and resource management, task completion and other areas of competence that promote independence in daily life. Activities in the program are designed to alleviate psychiatric symptoms as confusion, anxiety, disorientation, distraction, preoccupation, isolation, withdrawal and feelings of low self-worth.
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